Falling Red Leaves

John pulled back as a vine shot out from the ground beneath his feet, the boosts to his physical stats making evasion incredibly easy. With a quick swing, John cut the thorny vine before Bill could make use of it, the purple cloaked blade cleanly cutting through it.

"Don't get cocky ‘cus you tapped into some kind of power up," Bill spat as more vines began to grow over his body, some twisting into the shape of hounds, making it look like he had numerous tumors sprouting from his skin. "I know mine is greater. It bears down on you like a crushing weight, snuffing you out like flame."

John couldn't help but wonder how much of that was Bill's own words and how much was the influence of whatever dark power flowed through him. With limited time until he ran out of power, he shelved those musing for later and resumed his attack.

Bill responded in turn, closing the distance between them and launching a bunch of vines at him. They quickly grew into the maw of a hound and John was **** to dip to one side to avoid the blow.

A second wave of vines tipped with spikes shot out from the ground. Even with the boost to his Agility, John couldn't dodge the sudden attack and the thorny spears pierced his side, followed by a number of gasps from those watching, the most horrified coming from Brenda.

-5 HP

John quickly disengaged, his flesh mending once he got the spikes out of him.

'That did a lot less than I expected,' he noted. 'Dose having higher Endurance give me some level of damage mitigation?'

He shook his head clear of the intrusive question. 'There'll be time to ponder that later, John,' he chided himself. 'Get that Intelligence stat working on figuring out how to beat this bastard.'

John dashed back into the fray, not content with letting Bill strike at a still target. He knew an aggressive line of attack was the only way forward, as time wasn't on his side. The Greatwood Sword had begun to vibrate in his grip, reminding him of the time the school bus had blown a flat tire on the way to school and had rumbled to a stop on the side of the road.

'Don't have a lot of time left,' he surmised as he slashed an approaching vine spear. He pushed his body to the limit and rushed right at Bill, swinging his blade in a wide arc.

One of the hounds growing from Bill's back shot out like a snake and caught his attack in its jaw, stopping his momentum flat. John grit his teeth as he heard the telltale sound of wood beginning to splinter and he wrenched the blade free, a few pieces falling off its edge as he did.

"That's the root of your power, right?" Bill asked in a sinister voice. "I wonder what'll happen if it breaks?"

"It's not going to break until I deal with you," John replied.

"'Deal'?" Bill repeated in an amused tone. "You're too green to 'deal' with me. You lack the conviction to go for the throat. Maybe if you had a bit more motivation?"

Bill pointed his left hand towards Vivian, Senka, Teri and Brenda and sent the vines growing on it towards them. For a second, it took on the appearance of a hound as usual but morphed into a more serpentine shape as it closed the distance.

"No!" John shouted and moved to intercept the attack. Even with his increased stats, Bill's vine serpent was too fast and in a blink it was about to hit Senka, the spirit having moved to the front of the group when he wasn’t looking.

John felt no panic or worry from her then noticed Senka looked unfazed by the attack, an expression shared by everyone near her. The tickle of Vivian’s sunlight like magic was something he detected only a second before the vine passed right through the projection of Senka.

A look of surprise crossed Bill's face at his missed attack and his moment of confusion gave John the opening to get in a heavy blow.

With all his enhanced might, John swung into Bill, his sword striking his maimed right arm. The crushing of bones and squishing of flesh was drowned out by Bill letting out a guttural scream of pain as his arm was further pulverized.

Some of the vines growing from Bill planted themselves into the dirt, preventing John from sending their attacker flying. The ones not anchoring Bill were quick to counterattack, collectively striking at John.

-7 HP

John grit his teeth as the living spears pierced the flesh of his arms, barely holding in a scream of pain. As they pushed him away from Bill, John could hear more cracking from his blade and he caught several small pieces of it snapping off as the vibrations running through it grew stronger.

A gust came from John's side and a blade of wind cut through the vines.

"End this, John!" Aeolia shouted and John was ready to oblige. He dashed forward, sword held high, and brought it down, slashing down through Bill's chest while he was still dazed from his early attack.

A splash of blood coated John's torso and he had to bite back a wave of disgust as Bill began to fall back. Then the vine covered man let out a snarl and snapped his good arm forward, his fist now in the shape of a viper.

John brought his blade in to block the attack, driving the sword into the open jaws. They snapped shut on the weapon, causing the two opposed auras to flare wildly.

With a grunt, John tried to **** the construct back, the tension in the blade growing with each second. Without warning, a loud crack echoed through the forest and the sword fractured, breaking into many pieces.

The aura around John faded away and he tried to disengage, holding the hilt of his ruined blade. The loss of the blessing's power left his body sluggish in comparison and the vine serpent spat out the fragments of his sword and lunged at him, opening wide to snap around him, pinning his right arm against his body.

John was pulled close to Bill, the man looking crazed and pale.

"Looks like my power was greater," he gloated even as everyone around began to rush into action to save John. "And I think I'll be able to easily clean up the rest once you're gone."

John struggled to free himself as the maw grew tighter and the burning red aura began to grow more painful. His left hand, fruitlessly trying to pry open the jaws, grasped at something wooden and pointed and quickly wrapped its fingers around it.

With a half mad shout, John drew his left arm back, revealing a large shard of his sword and jammed it into Bill. He had aimed for his neck, but pinned as he was, missed slightly and instead stabbed into the burly man's shoulder.

Bill howled in pain and the aura went wild, spreading out from him like a bloody tide that knocked everyone down and dispelled any magic around, including Vivian’s veil, revealing she, Senka, Teri and Brenda had pulled away from the engagement. John fell to the ground as the vines holding him withered away. His battle weary body, now bereft of the godly boost, stumbled back as Bill took in a few shaky breaths, streams of red energy rising from his body like the last bits of smoke from a dying fire, the largest one flowing from where John had stabbed him with the shard of his broken blade.

He let out a raspy laugh, and John noticed something off about the tone of his voice.

“So this is somewhere beyond home,” he said in a quiet, somewhat astonished voice, staring up at the green canopy above them. “I’ve almost forgotten what untouched trees looked like.”

His head lolled down like his neck could no longer support it and glowing red eyes bored into John. “A pity that even here, Yerda bites at our heels.”

The name Yerda jostled John, immediately recognising the name, and he reflexively fired off an Observe.

“Ah, interesting scrying spell,” the now-named Helmas said. “A pity I can’t further see what you and this place has to offer. This body is beyond its limit.”

Without the red haze of the aura distorting his vision, John could easily see the skin on either side of the wound on his face was growing black, as if the flesh was rapidly decaying.

"So frail, pure mortal bodies are," Helmas said, the streams of red fading away. "The mind isn't all that resilient either."

"Who are you?" John asked, his words coming out slowly, as he struggled to categorize just what was happening.

"It doesn't matter," the possessor said, Bill's body beginning to slump over. "This vessel can't maintain me. And giving away more than I have is an unacceptable move. Consider it an honor that you met in battle, albeit in an indirect manner, and survived. I think a repeat meeting wouldn't be in your favor. Long may The Glorious reign!"

The last bit of energy sputtered out and Bill fell over like a sack of potatoes, hitting the ground with a wet thud. John stared down at the corpse, a numb terror settling over him.

350 Exp Gained

A number of other popups appeared but John ignored them, letting them fade out as he stared down at Bill’s body. The sound of footsteps quickly approaching didn't bring John out of his stupor but the bone crushing hug from Brenda did. Tears fell from her eyes and wetted his cheek, and he sluggishly moved his arms around her.

“It's over, Mom," John consoled her. His assembled girlfriends, Teri and her team stood close, but gave the mother and son a considerate space.

Brenda's arms tightened around him and she shakily asked, "Is it really? All that sounded like it was only the beginning."

John opened his mouth to try to assuage her worries but found he couldn't. Because he knew it wasn't. The rest of the blood stealers, Phantom Reach according to Bill's Observe, were still out there. And then there were those greater powers that lay beyond, power that seemed to be the Phantom Reach's goal.

'There's no point in lying anymore is there?' he thought. 'Mom knows, and she'll always worry about me. Best to lay everything on the table. '

"You're right, Mom," John finally said. "This is not the end of what's been going on. I'll tell you everything, but we can do that back home. I think we need a bit of time to process everything."

“It is a bit much,” she said with a **** smile. She released her hold on him and stood awkwardly beside him as everyone else finally drew close.

“I got control of the barrier,” Aeolia informed him as she approached. “We can get out without a problem.”

“Right,” John said. “I think we need to get out of here and go over everything.”

“That would be advisable,” Vivian remarked, her eyes shifting over to Brenda. The redhead offered her a shy smile. “I’m sure there are a lot of questions that need answering.”

“Wait,” Senka interjected. “There’s something we’ve forgotten. When our assailant tapped into that power, someone deeper in the woods screamed out.”

John recalled that moment right before he was pulled into the vision and added, “Might have been two people. I thought I heard both a man and a woman.”

“So there are more assholes around?” Beth grumbled wearily as she tried to keep steady on her feet, the torn remains of her shirt swaying.

“They couldn’t be too dangerous if the barrier slipped over to me without any struggle,” Aeolia said.

“Or they could be ****,” Senka proposed. “That they screamed when that outside power came into play makes that a possibility. Would also explain why they haven’t tried anything, be it an attack or attempt to escape.”

Teri said something in her native tongue, the sudden sound of the unfamiliar language causing Brenda to jump slightly. Gryit responded, and with a sharp jab of her head, she and the two male goblins broke from the group and began to head into woods around them.

“They’re pretty good at tracking,” Teri explained in English. “They’ll be able to see if anyone’s skulking about and where they went.”

John was about to suggest they could join in when a cry in the goblin language rang out, followed by Teri’s response in kind.

“Grekol found someone knocked out,” Teri relayed. “I’ve told him to bring her to us.”

“Is it safe to do that?” Brenda asked quietly. “What if they are faking? Or are injured in some way that moving might make worse?”

“If they’re faking, then all of us getting in close would be a bad move,” Teri explained. “And if they’re so injured that moving them could make things worse, then they likely wouldn’t survive if we were to just leave.”

Brenda nodded slightly, unable to refute the goblin’s logic, though she wasn’t able to keep her discomfort over the whole situation off her face. A few moments later, Grekol marched back into view, carrying a limp woman in his arms.

Her complexion was pale and sweat beaded across her brow and soaked her blue hair. Her breaths came in short, light gasps and Teri quickly instructed her kinsman to place her down so she could examine her.

“She definitely looks like someone overwhelmed by too much mana,” Teri said as she checked the woman’s vitals.

John was about to cast Observe to see if he could glean any information on her condition or about Phantom Reach, when he noticed something when Teri lifted the **** woman’s arm: a charm bracelet adorned with suns and moons. And more importantly, one of a moon blocking the sun, far more tarnished looking than the rest of the bracelet.

‘No,’ John thought, his mind going back to Monday’s bus ride and the unintentional Observe that clued him into the fact that others had magic.

‘Fucking hell,’ John thought, his suspicion confirmed, before he said, “Think we might need to get that bracelet off. I can’t use Observe on her and one of its Attributes is ‘Anti-Scry’. Figure that might help us figure out what happened.”

“Definitely makes her look a bit suspicious,” Aeolia remarked as Teri carefully unclasped the bracelet.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Vivian cautioned. “There are a lot of reasons for wanting to be hidden from scrying magic.”

“But for an unconnected person to get caught up in this, and for them to have a reaction to the outside power being drawn upon is a bit of a stretch of credulity,” Senka chimed in. “The most likely answer is she is in some way with these people. But I agree with Vivian, let us not be too hasty to paint her with the same brush as Bill. Something is odd about all of this.”

The spirit caught John’s eye and he knew she recognized the talisman and her words were more for him than the others. He radiated a feeling of understanding, focused back on the **** girl and cast Observe.

“What the hell?” John exclaimed and recast the skill, getting the same blank result.

“That can’t be a good thing, right?” Beth asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” Teri answered as she continued to examine the girl. “Even when people are asleep, there is a sort of presence to them, beyond that of their mana, that I can sense. A sort of emotional baseline. Her’s is barely there. And I don’t know what that means.”

“Is there some kind of hospital or something she could get help at?” Brenda asked, her eyes wet as she looked down at the girl with pity.

“There’s the Apothecary,” Vivian answered, “but unless we keep throwing money to them, they’re more likely to use her for experiments than they are to help out of the goodness of their hearts.”

“That’s horrible!” Brenda exclaimed. “They’d just **** someone like that?”

“There aren’t a lot of good people in the Abyss,” Aeolia admitted. “Outside of places with a strong figure at the top dictating rules, ‘might makes right’ is the motto.”

“And in those places with a central authority, you’ll find the laws lean towards the medieval,” Vivian added. “Cut off hands for thievery, that kind of thing. When you have people running with super strength and magic that can call down firestorms, such hard rules are needed.”

“Well, we can’t just leave her here to die,” Teri said.

“Would trying to heal her help?” John asked, eyeing the staff Brenda still held. “I made a staff yesterday with a healing effect.”

“It might,” Teri replied. “Taking some of the burden of healing off her body might let her reach a higher stage of recovery.”

John nodded and turned to Brenda. She caught on and handed the staff to him. John tried to will away the hilt of his broken sword, only for a popup to say that broken weapons are automatically removed from the weapon slot system. He manually stowed the remnants of his weapon with a melancholic expression on his face and pulled out Senka’s vessel. He needed all the mana he could get and drew out all the mana in the staff, knife and bit of his own.

The mixture of earth, water, shadow and his own didn’t seem to trigger anything as the Evocation fired, everyone feeling a jolt of energy flow through them.

“Man, that feels good,” Beth sighed. “Think it’s working?”

The girl’s complexion seemed to grow better as Bloom of Life did its work, color returning to her cheeks. Observe still showed nothing of note.

“Guess it was a bit much hoping one shot would fix everything,” John said, putting the staff away. “At least it looks like it did patch her up.”

“So now what?” Beth asked. “We sit around here and wait for her to wake up?”

“No, I think it’s safe for us to pull her out, though it’s going to be a bit rough on her,” Teri answered then looked at Brenda. “As it will be for you, unfortunately. Moving in and out of barriers with someone else always is.”

Brenda didn’t look too enthused about that but nodded.

“I’ll head out first and be ready to throw up a veil,” Vivian said.

“Grekol can carry her,” Teri added, issuing the order to her kinsman.

“Think we let getting out of here get ahead of planning where we’re going to go after,” John interjected.

“I think Vivian’s place is a bit too small for all of us,” Aeolia said. “And I don’t think those elders of yours will be happy to have us stomp in.”

“We can go back to our house,” Brenda unexpectedly offered.

Everyone turned to face her, even Grekol, though John thought he was just following their lead.

“You sure, Mom?” John asked.

“After what I just heard about the state of medical care in this magical world of yours, I’m not just going to let this poor girl suffer when I can at least offer some hospitality.”

“Even if she’s with that bastard that ambushed you and John?” Aeolia asked, an edge to her voice.

“You don’t know that for sure,” Brenda retorted with a bit of heat in her voice. “Until then, she’s just an injured person in need of help. And offering some space is what I can do.”

“Okay, we’ll go to our house and get everything sorted there,” John said.

Everyone nodded in agreement and they set about to exit the barrier.

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.